Dog waste in a multi family building

[Tasa]

Hi all!

We are running into the issue of people not picking up after their dogs at our 4plex. I have sent multiple reminders to everyone and it has not improved; all I get is the "it's not me" defence. We picked up 29 piles yesterday, and I don't plan to do that again. Cameras are not in the budget right now so I have no way of pinpointing the main offenders, but there are poops of all sizes so I am fairly sure it's a team effort. I am looking for some input - have you had this problem before, and how did you correct it? Do you have something in your pet agreement or leases to address this issue? Fines? Requiring a monthly pet fee for cleanup? What worked, and what didn't? I'd like to do an addendum to the lease, but i want to make sure I'm being reasonable and 0so, I need some ideas. Thank you!

[admin]

Not many of my property owners that we manage let me do this cause they don't want a "bill"................. but when I set it up it worked out very well. 

So What I did is said that anyone with a dog will split the "dog waste pick up bill" on a monthly basis. So I set it up like a utility bill that is required to be paid if they had a dog.   And then I had a vendor pick it up, and I split the bill with whom all had a dog that month.  It worked and I just posted it to their ledger before the 1st and they paid it with their rent check.  The tenants love it and stoped the back and forth issues.

 

@Tasa 

[Realtor Matt Miller]

On 9/10/2018 at 1:38 PM, Tasa said:

Hi all!

We are running into the issue of people not picking up after their dogs at our 4plex. I have sent multiple reminders to everyone and it has not improved; all I get is the "it's not me" defence. We picked up 29 piles yesterday, and I don't plan to do that again. Cameras are not in the budget right now so I have no way of pinpointing the main offenders, but there are poops of all sizes so I am fairly sure it's a team effort. I am looking for some input - have you had this problem before, and how did you correct it? Do you have something in your pet agreement or leases to address this issue? Fines? Requiring a monthly pet fee for cleanup? What worked, and what didn't? I'd like to do an addendum to the lease, but i want to make sure I'm being reasonable and 0so, I need some ideas. Thank you!
 

@Tasa I would just be up front.   "Everyone is claiming that it's not their dog,  so in 30 days I am changing the house rules and each unit that has a dog I will have a clean up service and that units portion will be due with rent"

 

Cameras might not be in the budget but, maybe just one camera or a game camera.

[Ben Persinger]

I don't allow dogs in my multi family buildings but do in sfh's and I include a section in the lease that essentially says the tenant is responsible for pet waste cleanup and that if I deem that it is not being satisfactorially taken care or I will provide the service at their expense via a professional service.

 

It's a little harder with everyone saying it's not them but like the folks said above, I would address the issue with all the tenants and say that everyone is blaming someone else as such they get to communally pay for it amongst the dog owners. 

[Kassandra RPM Alaska]

Thats a good point - 

 

Some properties are okay with pets and others are not